2009 MotoGP – Mugello Photos

June 2, 2009

The MotoGP paddock headed to the Tuscan region of Italy for the fifth round of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, held at the picturesque Mugello circuit. Check out the full 2009 MotoGP Mugello Results.

Round 5 of the 2009 MotoGP Championship brought the riders to the Mugello circuit in the Tuscan region of Italy.

Third on the starting grid was Loris Capirossi on the Suzuki Rizla machine - MotoGP, Mugello

Loris Capirossi, 5th: 'The whole team worked so hard this weekend and we tried to find the best solution for today's conditions and the bike felt like it had a good rhythm in both the wet and the dry. We now need a lot of help from Suzuki, because on the straight it is difficult to follow and stay with the faster guys - and this is what is limiting us at the moment.'

Loris Capirossi was just one of the Italian riders that the Mugello fans flocked to see on Sunday.

The MotoGP pre-race paddock almost has enough uniformed characters to run a functional society.

Rossi passing Marco Melandri - MotoGP, Mugello

MotorcycleUSA.com Insider editor Martin Heath took shelter with Monster Yamaha umbrella girl Kate on what started out as a rainy Sunday morning in Mugello.

Mugello, Italy MotoGP podium: Lorenzo with second, Stoner taking the win for Ducati, Rossi taking the last spot for Yamaha.

The rain had stopped by 1:30pm but the track was still very wet and Lorenzo slid out on the penultimate corner just before he reached the grid during the sighting-lap. He managed to remount and race.

Andrea Dovizioso, 4th: 'The sensation of leading the race in front of my home crowd was incredible and I think overall we had a good race today – I’m satisfied. I fought like hell to take third and we were so close – only 53 thousandths from the podium!'

Fourth in the Championship standings, Dani Pedrosa took eighth on the starting grid with his best lap a second slower than that set by Lorenzo.

Alex de Angelis - MotoGP, Mugello

Dani Pedrosa, DNF: 'It’s obviously been a pretty bad weekend for us and the crash in the race just about summed it all up. After the problem with my right leg yesterday I had a pain-killing injection this morning for the warm-up and it allowed me to ride the bike, but to be honest there was still a lot of pain and I couldn’t ride at full speed. The rain didn’t help either because all the practice sessions were dry so the wet settings were a bit of a gamble.'

Alex de Angelis - MotoGP, Mugello

Alex de Angelis - MotoGP, Mugello

Doviziso passing Marco Melandri - MotoGP, Mugello

Dani Pedrosa - MotoGP, Mugello

The Italian crowd was also watching Respol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso for success.

Valentino Rossi, 3rd: 'In the wet we were very fast because we had found a great setting, but then when we changed bikes we made a mistake and chose a front tire that was too hard, so it took me a long time to be able to put enough temperature on it and I lost a lot of time. At the end I was able to ride better and I knew that I had to make it onto the podium, so I am happy for this.'

Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd: 'I have to say the biggest thank you to my guys today for getting the damaged bike ready in such a short time; it was a brilliant job and after I swapped bikes everything changed. From then on I had a great rhythm and I was able to stay on fighting to the end and take this second place. It’s a really amazing result because things could have been much worse today, so thank you again to everyone for making it possible. I’m really happy with this result.'

Marco Melandri made it to the front before the other riders began changing to dry tires - MotoGP, Mugello

Texan Colin Edwards placed a strong sixth in qualifying, running half a second shy of Lorenzo's time and right behind Randy de Puniet - MotoGP, Mugello

Nicky Hayden - MotoGP, Mugello

Jorge Lorenzo - MotoGP, Mugello

Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) leading the two Fiat Yamaha riders Lorenzo and Rossi on his Ducati.

Casey Stoner and wife Adriana Tuchyna - MotoGP, Mugello

Casey Stoner, 1st: 'At one point I thought it was all over but thankfully I was able to work out a way to ride around the problem and bring the victory home. I made a couple of mistakes over the final two laps but luckily it didn’t matter. It was a really difficult race but a great one for the whole team, for Filippo (Preziosi), for everybody at Ducati and all the Ducatisti. I’m so happy today.'

The Ducatisti were out to cheer the Italian motorcycle marque's two riders, Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.

Casey Stoner now leads the 2009 MotoGP Championship with Lorenzo trailing by two points and Rossi nine points behind the Australian in third

Casey Stoner leading Pedrosa and Vermuelen - MotoGP, Mugello

Stoner made his way past Capirossi after swaping bikes for his dry setup.